Writing about writing

I'm one of those who think that by writing things down in public, they will get done.  It doesn't always work, but I can hope!  Here are some of the deadlines / ideas I have coming up.

* April 30 - Twit Publishing - PULP! - Book conservator horror
* April 30 - Twit Publishing - Dieselpunk - bootlegging mechanic
* May 15 - Bloodstones - Urban Fantasy Horror - Moe and Del with the Glaistig
* July 1 - Criminal Class Press - Engines of Deceit / Dieselpunk - Bootlegging mechanic goes investigating
* July 30 - Big Bad Anthology - Bad guys - Reworking my sidewalk hero, maybe.
* August 1 - Criminal Class Press - Dieselpunk - More from my mechanic

There are a couple other submission dates but I'm not positive on them.  In addition, I still need to work on my novel and ideas for the next NaNoWriMo.  Don't forget, May and Story a Day are coming up quickly too!

You did what?

Typically, I don’t brag about my accomplishments.  Typically, I don’t share them at all.  I am just not that comfortable bringing attention to myself.  (But yet I write a blog…)  When I received my copies of A Rustle of Dark Leaves, I told a few friends and made a copy of the cover and contents page to post up on my cubicle wall.  My work situation isn’t the hottest with communication and cooperation.  I wasn’t sure if anyone would notice.

But oh my gosh.  One person noticed, then she announced it when we were gathering to say happy birthday to someone.  Then someone else sent an email about it.  Before long, I had a line of people wanting to read my story and someone ordered a copy.  Seriously.

It’s just a short story.

But it is my first anthology publication and I’m excited about it.  I’ve been published in smaller ‘trade/Pagan’ newsletters and my community college newspaper but a book seems different.  I’m excited that they are excited, and I’m excited for myself.  I just have to find the confidence to deal with it if I want to keep publishing pieces. 

How do you deal with your successes? 

Challenge Months Ahead

Normally I am all over this, ready and raring to go, but I'm still pretty burned out on lots of things. 

April is National Poetry Month. There is a challenge to write a poem a day over at Writer's Digest.  Robert Lee Brewer posts a prompt every day and chooses his favorite submission at the end.  It's pretty helpful to try to write a poem a day.  I've done it before, but I've been lacking this month.  I believe I might start tonight!

There is a program running in May called Story A Day.  Basically, you write a short story every day.  They are starting to gear up with writing exercises and collecting story ideas now.  I tried this last year and while I only managed to get a couple stories finished, I had partials for several others that I was able to flesh out and use later.

June brings the first Camp NaNo of the year.  Write a novel in idyllic camp settings surrounded by mosquitoes and bears. :)

Get your writing muscles in gear and write write write!

A Rustle of Dark Leaves is out!

I'm happy to announce that the anthology that includes one of my short stories is finally published!  A Rustle of Dark Leaves: Tales from the Shadows of the Forest was officially launched yesterday and ready for purchase.  This is my first short story published beyond my college newspaper or e-newsletters.  I'm pretty excited! 

My story is The Rusalka Sang, published under the name CL Tice.

My favorite duo of monster hunters, Edward Mosley and Felix Delperdang, go hunting in the forest for a Rusalka.  Rusalkas are female ghosts or water spirits.  At night, they would climb out of the water and seduce men to their deaths.  They also climb trees and sing. 

One of these days I'll write about bad male spirits, but Mo and Del mostly end up encountering female monsters.  Maybe Mo is just having fun before he retires.

If you end up reading my story, let me know what you think!

Wait, write THIS instead!

My muses like to be pains in my ass.  I wish I had a muse of Getting Stuff Done instead of Oh Here’s Another Idea For You.  Remember that clowns and romance story I was supposed to do a week ago?  Yeah, I finally managed to write up a micro fiction about it yesterday.  Every time I got two paragraphs in, I would have a different idea on how to write it.

I have about ten different ideas about how to write a story about books for a submission that’s due at the end of the month, five more ideas for a story for next month, and two different contrasting ideas for my novel.  Gah. 

I swear the muses just like to laugh at me.

The good thing about all of this is that I now have a huge list of ideas.  Now that the clowns have been put to rest, I can focus my writing energy where it needs to go.

Now, everyone should tell my muses to repeat Go Write!

Clowns and Romance

The last time I was at the library, I picked up Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher in an effort to get the kiddo to read something new.  Plus, Jim Butcher is one of my favorite authors.  I told the kiddo the author was challenged to write something based on the ideas of Pokemon and the Roman legion – two things my kiddo loves.   

On Monday night, I had a friend over while I was helping the kiddo get his reading log done.  I told my friend the same story about how the book was written and she thought it was pretty neat.  Somehow, the conversation turned into a challenge of our own.

Each of us now has to write a story in a week based on two ideas chosen by the others.  I ended up with Clowns and Romance.  This is how my thought process went after I was given my topics….  Clowns, really?  I hate you guys.  I hate clowns.  Hey, maybe my romance can be about killing clowns.  Alright!  Let’s write!

I haven’t written the story yet.  It will probably happen on Saturday or Friday night.  Whenever I get the time to sit down and write.  But I love the idea of throwing two completely different ideas together and getting a story out of them. 

It's in the mail!

This morning, I finally put my submission for the 2012 Lyrical Iowa poetry competition in the mail.  All submissions have to be postmarked by...today.  Yeah, I'm a procrastinator.  But it's on it's way to our lovely editor and I did manage to submit something.  Go me!

I found and edited five poems for submission this time.  I'm pretty happy with all of them and excited that I rounded up five whole poems to submit.  Of course, now I have to go hunting through my notebooks for more poems to work on, but that's okay.

I don't like editing poems in my notebook so much.  Sometimes I can't find the correct page again.  When I feel a poem has matured enough in the presses of my pages, I type it out and print it all by it's lonesome.  This gives me room to modify and play with the language.  Which looks an awful lot like chicken scratches.

This is the cover of Lyrical Iowa 2011.  My poem is on page 65!  I finally got around to ordering copies for me and family.  By the way, this can be found in the Ames Public Library, if anyone wants to check it out.

Deadlines and dirt

There’s one week left before the deadline for Lyrical Iowa and some of the national poetry organizations submission deadline.  I’ve had a plan for getting my poetry together and edited and all shiny in more than enough time to get my submission sent in.  Have I sent it in yet?  Of course not.

I’ve barely looked at my poetry over the past couple weeks.  I’ve picked out some promising rough drafts, typed them up, and printed them out so I could have them in one place while I edit them.  They are even saved on my USB drive so I could edit them in word.  All I have managed to do so far, however, is realize I write about rural Iowa a lot.

How many poems can there be about fields in Iowa at dawn?  Several notebooks worth, that’s how many. 

On the plus side, I am still inspired by the landscape every morning. 

Every day there is something different to draw out my inner writer and start scribbling on notebook paper.  Some days it's the fall of light across the stubby fields.  Others, it's the distant scattered farm house lights that echo the stars above.  And that's just in winter.  Wait until spring gets here and everything starts growing.  It's amazing how the first blush of green plants poking up out of the black earth can change a landscape.  

For the rest of the week, I will sit in my little apartment and revisit those early mornings, polishing them to the jewels I know they are.

Procrastinators of the World Unite.... Tomorrow!

I'm a terrible procrastinator when it comes to writing.  I have a plan, but things always get in the way of my plan, or I find myself staring out the window for the entire time.  My many writing plans have gone out the window to never return.  How am I supposed to get writing done if I can't sit down and write?

The Renegade Writer tells me this is okay.  Well, sort of.  An article I read a while back states that as long as you are getting your projects done on time, don't force the writing.  There's a definite emphasis on getting things done, though, just taking the writing as it comes to you.  It still involves planning and editing and all the stuff that makes up writing, but the article just states to write when you feel like it.  If you have a writing date scheduled for Thursday afternoon and on Wednesday morning the writing bug bites you, then write.  If on Thursday writing feels like pulling teeth, then don't.

If I was free to write whenever the mood struck me, this would be great for me.  And it slightly relieves some of my self-guilt about not following a writing schedule.  A part of my plan has always been to write when I feel the words coming on.  As long as I make my deadlines, it shouldn't matter too much when I write.

The main problem with my writing plans is that I have no enforced deadlines.  Any suggestions?

Write it down... Or Else

I'm terrible about remembering things.  In the middle of my ride to work, I can have five ideas, but if they aren't written down, I lose them.  I can have whole stories run through my head while washing the dishes, but if I don't stop and write notes, I'll never be able to remember them.

Scratch paper, notebooks, and white boards are my friends.  They may be scattered through the house or buried in a pile, but they are still places I can take notes and wedge my memory of an idea a little further into the Swiss cheese of my mind.  Sometimes I can remember the idea without ever looking at the note.  It seems like once I commit to remembering it, it sticks.  Other times, I don't even fully remember writing the note. 

Have you ever thought to yourself, "Brain, just what the hell are you doing?"

Next time, take notes on how you respond. You might need it later. :)

Imbolc and Writing

Today is Imbolc by the Pagan Calendar.  It is a day to celebrate the fires of the goddess Brigid, patron of poets, smiths, and healers.  Today is the feast of St. Brigid, by the Catholic calendar.  It is a day to celebrate the patron of poets, smiths, healers, and more. 

There are cyberspace poetry readings in honor the Goddess and Saint going on all day.  While I am mostly Hellenic in my religion, I can't turn down a goddess of poetry now, can I?

Here is a poem by William Stafford, titled When I Met My Muse.

I glanced at her and took my glasses
off--they were still singing. They buzzed
like a locust on the coffee table and then
ceased. Her voice belled forth, and the
sunlight bent. I felt the ceiling arch, and
knew that nails up there took a new grip
on whatever they touched. "I am your own
way of looking at things," she said. "When
you allow me to live with you, every
glance at the world around you will be
a sort of salvation." And I took her hand.

Reading to Write

There are loads of books about writing out on the market today.  Go check out the reference section in your book store or search through your library.  There is a book for almost every topic you need help with. Sorting through them may take some time, but I’ve found a few gems tucked in the shelves.

One of my favorite books is The Poetry Home Repair Manual by Ted Kooser.  Reading this book totally changed the way I write poetry.  It was like I found the missing piece of my writing in these pages.  I’m not saying this just because he is from my home state, although it might have factored into the reason I picked up his book in the first place.

One of the first books I ever read about poetry, outside of school, was The Poet’s Companion by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux.  I recently received my own copy of this book through Paperback Swap.  It’s been ages since I’ve read it, but I can’t wait to tuck back into the pages.  There are exercises and writing prompts spread throughout the book.

What are some of your favorite books on writing? 

New Year, New Goals?

The millions of blogs I read (or skim) have been all abuzz over creating new writing goals this week.  With the new year, it's expected that everyone is creating resolutions.  They want to make the new year a better year than the one before.  They want to accomplish something.

So do I, but I don't make resolutions.  But I do make goals. 

I am still working on sorting out this years goals in writing, crafting, and life itself.  Last year was crazy busy and the NaNoWriMo season pretty much burned me out on everything.  So this year, I'm taking extra time to par down what I want to and what I think I can accomplish without going insane.  Can I really make six quilts before xmas when I've never quilted before?  Can I really write two novel drafts and a chapbook in a year? 

The writing goals I'm floating around are:
- Finishing my unfinished NaNoWriMo novel at least to first draft status
- Rewriting last years novel to first draft status (It was handwritten and I've decided to change the story around)
- Prepping and getting ready for NaNoWriMo 2012 in addition to the other two
- Skipping NaNoWriMo and focusing on getting a novel to a second draft status
- Having enough polished poems to create a chapbook
- Submitting a piece of writing every month
- Write a piece, submit a piece
- Filling up a journal each month
- Going to an Iowa Writers Workshop Summer program
- Get the Ames C.art newsletter done on time every month
- Redesign the blog, blog content, and mission

With as many different directions that I have in my life, there's no way I can make all of them my goals.  What I can do, however, is pick a couple I feel comfortable with and believe I can reach.  Then maybe pick one or two more that would be a 'dream' goal that I could aim for once I meet the other goals.  But I'm not looking for so many goals they are unreachable, I need solid goals that I am sure I can reach with a little stretching.

Do you have any goals or resolutions this year?

Writing Prompts, or What am I going to write?

One of the hurdles in my writing life is finding things to write about.  I guess you could call it writer’s block, but I always think of that as a more terrible condition than just sitting there drawing a blank.  My writer’s block comes in anxiety and stress when I don’t feel I can do justice to my idea.

My daily battle is figuring out what my idea is. 

One idea is to write what is around you.  However, my morning writing takes place on my rideshare van.  I feel like there is only so many ways to describe the fields I pass by on my commute.

Another idea is to start with a word or phrase you hear.  This isn’t a bad idea and I’ve managed to write a few poems/stories with things I hear.  Unfortunately, most of the morning chatter is about sports.  Most of the time, everyone is sleeping.

I could always go with a word or phrase from a book, if I bring a book with me.

Now that I’ve recognized that I need to plan ahead for things like this, I’m planning on making up a list of writing prompts to keep in my notebook.  Random phrases, ideas, words, and images will sit there, waiting for me to get tired of corn in its many phases and spin the randomness into writing.  Or, you know, something close to it.

What do you use to keep writer’s block at bay?  Do you use writing prompts?